Conventional medicine cabinets include a cabinet structure and a hinged door structure that typically includes a mirror on its outer surface. It is not uncommon for such a cabinet to be placed on or within a wall that is adjacent and perpendicular to a larger wall mirror over a bathroom counter, such that the hinge of the door is near the wall mirror. In such an installation, the mirrored door may be readily pivoted away from the cabinet, thereby allowing easy access to the contents of the cabinet without fully opening the door. Further, as the mirrored door is opened it moves towards parallel alignment with the wall mirror, thereby presenting different angles of a person's reflected image and allowing the person to see, depending upon where he looks and the position of the mirrored door, different perspectives of his face.
Such conventional medicine cabinets, however, are difficult to use for close-up observation of one's face. With the installation previously described, the person must lean over the bathroom counter to get his face close to the mirrored door or to the larger wall mirror. Further, the different perspectives of the person's face that are available are limited. For example, the person cannot see the back of his head without using an additional hand-held mirror, or the like. Such conventional medicine cabinets have further drawbacks. For example, such a cabinet can only be opened from one side.
A variety of other cabinets have been developed to overcome some of the difficulties with the conventional medicine cabinet. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,557,037 to Rooney on Jun. 12, 1951, teaches a medicine cabinet hinged to an X-shaped support that is, in turn, hinged to a mirrored door. Such a cabinet, however, cannot be opened and accessed from either side since the X-shaped support blocks access to the contents of the cabinet if opened from one side. Further, if opened from the one side the latch mechanism on the other side automatically releases, causing the X-shaped support and the mirrored door to swing away from the cabinet inconveniently.
Another prior art type of cabinet is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,396,249 to Aisley on Aug. 2, 1983. Such a device, while allowing access to the cabinet from either side, has a hinge element 20 that prevents the mounting of such a cabinet in a recess in a wall such that the mirror is flush with the wall. Such a device, therefore, is not suitable for installations where the mirror is to be installed flush with the wall, which is becoming a more and more popular method of installing such mirrors.
Clearly, then, there is a need for a mirrored cabinet device that allows access to the cabinet from either side. Such a needed device would still operate as intended when installed with the mirror flush with the wall. Further, such a needed device, even when opened, would be aesthetically pleasing, and when used in conjunction with a wall mirror would allow one to observe one's posterior side. Still further, such a device would be relatively simple to manufacture, durable, and easy to clean and maintain. The present invention fulfills these needs and provides further related advantages.